Americans may need to keep their distance from one another a little longer as the surgeon general is not convinced the coronavirus crisis will end anytime soon.
“In my opinion, I think that in 30 days we will still be telling the country in general that you need to practice these measures,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams said.
His comments come shortly after President Donald Trump announced he would be extending social distancing guidelines to April 30, as IJR previously reported. Trump originally hoped the country and economy would open back up for Easter.
Adams discussed shelter-in-place orders and how that could be something states may be able to scale back on in 30 days.
“In 30 days some places may not need to have a shelter-in-place anymore,” Adams said, “We’ll start to ease this in 30 days, in some places, but in other places, we’ll be ramping it up.”
Watch his comments below:
"In my opinion, in 30 days we will still be telling the country in general to practice these measures." — Surgeon General Jerome Adams pic.twitter.com/jHqEsYHIz5
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 1, 2020
There are some states that have stay-at-home orders that reportedly extend past April including Maryland and Virginia. Maryland’s order has no end date and Virginia’s extends past April and May and is set to end June 10.
Stay-at-home orders require residents to stay home except for “essential activities.” These include “getting food, medical help or going to the pharmacy, or interacting with ‘essential businesses.’”
Adams pointed out how states are at different places with their curve.
“Some places aren’t going to hit their peak until after 30 days and they’re going to need to continue social distancing,” Adams said, “Other places that leaned in early may be able to relax some of their recommendations earlier.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci delivered some good news in recent days as he said the “the mitigation is actually working,” as IJR previously reported.
Coronavirus cases continue to spread across the United States bringing the total to 199,092, according to reports, as of Wednesday afternoon.